28,000 Prisoners to go Free in California Budget Cut !?

How do Californians feel about the latest budget proposed by the Governator? Besides cutting education funding and closing parks a plan to release prisoners on early release to save money?

I just saw a piece on the news about this and I can't believe that those proposing it are saying well these aren't hard core criminals, they won't pose a threat to the community.[sarcasm]Yeah right, most of them were in prison for no reason at all, just looking for 3 squares and a place to sleep. [/sarcasm]

These criminals did something to get time, they should do their time, if they show promise some could get parole, but just opening the doors because there is a deficit isn't the brightest idea.

What are the odds of this proposal actually getting through?

State Budget Cuts Could Send Prisoners Home Early



Mod edit: title "!????!!!!!?!

[edit on 12-1-2008 by sanctum]

i wonder how many of those prisoners were non-violent drug offenders, and how many were real criminals

reply to post by scientist


Yes I wondered the same thing, that would be interesting to find out. In any case I am glad I got out of california when I did, the good old late great golden state.

Seems lame to me, however I always figured that their will eventually be prisoner release in exchange for military service. This connect some dots in my mind, and seems like another step in that direction.

Plus, once the crime rate reaches a massive increase following this, they can start to deploy more of their harsh policing tactics towards public obedience.

Never know....

I think it'll be ok - just as long as they keep those dirty, nasty dope smokers locked up for good! They should release all of the sexual offenders first because they are just largely misunderstood. With a little counseling they can get control of their sexual urges and be perfect contributing members of society. Same with all of the gang-bangers... after all, they're just guilty of trying to have fun with the boys and you know, boys will be boys and all. No point wasting valuable tax dollars locking up people who like having sex and people who like hanging out with the boys. Like I said, I have no problem with it as long as they just keep every single one of those dirty, nasty, good-for-nothing dope smokers locked up for life!

Obviously I'm being sarcastic - but didn't I sound very "cally-fornia" there?

reply to post by JacKatMtn


I agree, I was just about to post this news. I live in California and it is pretty shocking to me. Just picturing almost 30,000 prison inmates having their sentences reduced and being let go. Not to mention the education cuts. Sounds like California is going into a troubling time

Interestingly enough I only recently watched a Jordan Blackwell Documentary called 'Hidden Symbols'. The film is primarily about the rise of the NWO and the presence of Masonic symbolism in modern society however he did touch on this very matter.

He stated that it is the governments aim to keep the crime rate relatively high in order to instill fear in the masses. He went on to say that the early release of prisoners back into the general population distracts people from the grander scheme of things. There could be a method to this madness....any thoughts?

I like this idea as long as the ones being released are chosen carefully. The majority will be drug offenders and nothing more.

Would you rather spend taxes keeping someone who smoked a joint alive, or let him go? Marijuana is not a crime.

the prison system has been a CASH COW

if there were not enough cells filled they would change laws to meet projections that point to higher capacity, this way more jobs would be filled guards ,cops ,lawyers i mean you don't want to be undercapacity

and who would you target? those that statistically contribute less production and dollars toward the tax base, due largely to a system that they were born into where they already had 2 strikes against them

but yes that many inmates released i would be concerned about because they (assuming most released are non-violent offenders) become associated w/ the real criminals in jail and probably do a bit of networking (as much as one could do in the big house)

desperate times call for desperate measures , this will not be an "ordinary" recession, this will not be a 2001-02 recession it will be a shock to the system.

I'll be good with it as obviously (I hope) they will only be letting out people who are close to be let out anyway.... So no lifers, murderers, etc....


I think that they should just kill everyone with a life sentence, whats the point? That should open up some room

Originally posted by racerzeke
I think that they should just kill everyone with a life sentence, whats the point? That should open up some room

well, technically, life is 25 years (right?), so that's a bit harsh. plus, theres that whole pesky due trial and evidence stuff they always have to mess with.

Yes, I really don't think this is anything to sweat. I highly doubt people that have committed crimes that included victims will be on the list at all. And getting out early...it's not like these people they're releasing are lifers, most will just spend 4 yrs. in prison instead of 6. Now call me crazy, but I don't think that extra 2 yrs. would make or break someone and cause them to not commit any more crimes.

To sum it up, relax. I really don't think there's much to worry about here. Most people in prison are criminals simply because a law makes it so, and nobody has been hurt by their actions.

Well here in cali you can go to prison for almost anything. In some counties the penal system is the single biggest employer.It is a cash cow.
The system is geared to snare as many people as possible and keep them in jail. There is a documentary out there about a kid, how is border line retarded, who did something stupid, I cant remember what it was, but he would have gotten probation. First off his PD was an idiot, and missed a court date, while he was in custody, never told the kid he had one, DING the first violation, another 6 months when he is finally sentenced. The kids like whad i do? the lawyer screwed up why punish me. So he gets sent to jail, he's 16 and gets sent to the big house. In the first couple of weeks his celly assaults him and he fights back, DING another year.
Since he's kinda slow it was open season on the kid, people f'd with him endlessly, everytime he got in a fight DING another 6 months. They wouldnt leave him alone, he pleaded to be put into administrative segregation(the hole), just so he would be left alone and finish his original time. Cause every time he got violated while he did the six months they added on he wasnt doing his orginal sentence. He did 12 years on a 60 day beef.
Even the prison officals said his case was a perfect example of what wrong with the penal system.
Quite honestly its 20,000 people who shouldnt be in jail, like a merchant who didnt pay his sales tax, or a guy who got caught with a $10 bag of weed, and a swiss army knife in his pocket. Now a misdemenor is an armed felony, and heaven forbid he did something 25-30 years ago like misdemenor shop lifting, and has since lived and upstanding productive life, cause now he's a dangerous "career felon", and is subject to "3 strikes", 25-life. So instead of generating money in to the economy,which he would have done until he retired, he's now costing the state 60k a year to keep in prison.

reply to post by racerzeke




Read up.

It costs almost 3 times as much to execute someone than it does to keep them in prison. This thing is meant to save money, not to free up rooms.


I think it's a good thing. The prisons are overpopulated with people who wouldn't be in prison if this were almost any other western country.

If only they were doing it for the right reasons, and not for budget cuts.

do you not realize that mostof the worst criminals are the ones who arent in jail. The ones in jail are soft hearted enough to go down for thier cr8imes (in many cases) May could be your niephew or vicata that got caught on a bad DUI or such. Dont judge those who manned up to thier sins. I bet many of you have done stupid things as well, just never got caught.

28,000 is not enough, it still leaves, well by 1999 numbers, 17,800 non-violent victims of the failed 'war on drugs' behind bars.

As of June 1999, the state [California] prison system held 45,874 drug offenders, a record 28.3% of the prison population. Of these, 19,743 -- a record 12.2% of all prisoners -- were being held for simple possession (not sales) of drugs that were entirely legal when the century began.

Source

Feature: Drug War Prisoner Count Over Half a Million, US Prison Population at All-Time High 10/28/05

Read

Free the Drug War Prisoners

About 10 years ago I got my mountain bike stolen from my truck in the drive way.
Man I was pissed, I had just gotten home from from a ride came i to eat because it was cold and late, before bringing my bike in. 10 minutes it was outside, and gone.
I lived in kind of a sketchy neighborhood, so I should have know better.
Oh well, have to work more to replace it, and since we worked 65 hr weeks where I worked at the time it wasnt that difficult. So I moved on, I was sad because the bike was very special there were only 25 builtl,but OH well.
About 5 months later a kid who worked at the bike shop I used to work at, and was very familiar with my bike, called me up one afternoon, "dude I found your bike"
I was astounded, he was riding to work and saw it parked against a tree i front of a house. So he rode to the nearest police substation, told them and called me.
When i got there the the POLICE are already there, and there a guy and there is my bike, WOOO HOOOO.
The cops wanted proof that it was mine, I hadnt had time to go through all of my records to dig up the recipt, so I told him that if they took the seat post out they would find it cut at The "H" in the mfgs logo. And sure enough there was cut where I said. Cop says good enough for me. and goes back to talk to the guy.
In the mean time I start talking to a guy about my age that obviouslly is connected to the other guy in some fashion. I find out that he was the other guys uncle, and they were at the older guys moms house.
I found out that the kid (21 ish) had had a pretty rough up bringing and fell into a gang, when he was about 13-14. He had a pretty typical ganster life while a teen, they were basicaly harmless then, really petty stuff, boosting car stereo's , doing drugs, taggin and stuff.
He had got to a point where he decided that he need to get away from it all or he'd end up like his father in prison for life.
So he moved out to a small town 17 miles from here, to stay with another relative. Since there was no work in the little town he lived in his only option was to work in the big city 17 miles away. He didnt have a liscence or car, he knew nobody other than the elderly relative he was stay with, ther is no bus service or rail. So he walked to work, 6 days a week rain or shine, 35 miles a day.
Every once and a while his uncle(the guy im talking to), would give him a ride into town, but other wise he walked 35 miles a day to go to work.
Untill that night, that 40 deg rainy night, he caved in and boosted my bike, from the driveway.
He said that after he got about 3-4 miles he freaked out and tried to find my house again and give it back.
He wasnt sure which street he got it from or which block, and he rode around looking for the red truck he took it from, which had me in it driving around looking for it.
He never found the red truck, so he went home, and it only took him an half rather than the usual 4.
He kept on riding it and went through the neighbor hood several time looking for the red truck, except that he was on the wrong side of a particluar street.
So for the next 5 month he rode the crap out of it, wearing out a set of tires, and having them replaced at a shop in town, and that peeved me more than anything, because EVERY SHOP IN TOWN KNEW ME AND THAT BIKE, there was only 1 like it in 250 miles.
Any way after the uncle tells me this story the cops come up and ask what I want to do, I tell him that as long as I get my bike back I'm good, and I'm going to throw him a bone and not press charges, as long as he promises to his uncle and grandmother to keep working as hard as he has been.
The cop was fine with that , but tell's him, why dont you let us empty out your pockets before we let you go.
"Oh no", they are trying to take him to jail, no matter what I say, I think to my self.
Sure enough he had a small folding knife in his back pocket, the cop looks at me a says its not your desicion any more, he's going to jail for carrying a concealed weapon, and felony grand theft.
But I didnt want to press charges, it the states desicion now the cop replies.

I really felt bad because the guy was genuinly trying to do good, he just messed up, but realized it right away and tried to do the right thing.
A couple of months later, the DA's office calls me to get my story and I relate what I though and that I didnt want to charge the guy and that I thought the weapons charge was bogus, she replied that "he was in possesion of a DANGEROUS conceiled weapon", it was a cheap ass lock back with a 3" blade, that would certainly hurt the user more than the intented victim.
The felony theft, with special circumstances for the knife, along with his juvenile record, made him a dangerous career felon.
He automaticly got 25-life, possiblity of parole in 17.



For a freaking stolen bike and a pocket knife.


[edit on 12-1-2008 by punkinworks]

reply to post by punkinworks


wtf how do you get a life sentence for a stolen bike and a pocket knife!? no wonder your prisons are too full!

reply to post by punkinworks



Nonsense. NOBODY gets 25 to life for carrying a small knife. No way. The penalty is far less. Stealing the bike would have been reduced to petty theft with a guilty plea and the knife would have meant a few months probation. I do NOT believe that STORY..no lawyer would have stood by while a client got 25 to life for a bike theft and a pocket knife. No way.

Please reference the case so we can verify what you said..dates, names, etc. That is too tall a tale.

reply to post by eyewitness86


It's not so far fetched. The 3 strikes you're out laws are ridiculous and often have people serving life sentences for minor crimes that broke the camel's back.

en.wikipedia.org...

Controversial results

Some unusual scenarios have arisen, particularly in California — the state punishes shoplifting and similar crimes as felony petty theft if the person who committed the crime has a prior conviction for any form of theft, including robbery or burglary. As a result, some defendants have been given sentences of 25 years to life in prison for such crimes as shoplifting golf clubs (Gary Ewing, previous strikes for burglary and robbery with a knife), nine videotapes (Leandro Andrade, previous strikes for home burglary), or, along with a violent assault, a slice of pepperoni pizza from a group of children (Jerry Dewayne Williams, four previous non-violent felonies, sentence later reduced to six years). In one particularly notorious case, Kevin Weber was sentenced to 26 years to life for the crime of stealing four chocolate chip cookies (previous strikes of burglary and assault with a deadly weapon).